Pavie - Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 2020

TASTED

98 / 100

byAndreas Larssonthe7/6/2021

Fine nuance and layers, modest oak and a great wealth of ripe dark fruit, fine spices, tobacco and a very concentrated palate with bright freshness, copious layers of super refined tannin, mouth coating and extremely persistent with abundant digest dark fruit and a tremendously long, powerful finish.

La Revue du Vin de France

96-97 / 100

the6/7/2021

En 2020, tous les cabernets de Pavie sont en production. Pavie reste Pavie avec une présence imposante. Mais il prend des tonalités plus rafraîchissantes et plus précises, ce qui lui va parfaitement. La bouche se concentre sur un ensemble sanguin, aux parfums puissants de fruits noirs et aux tanins mentholés.

Le Figaro

97-98 / 100

the6/2/2021

Un nez empreint de nostalgie, qui rappelle ces courses folles de l'enfance entre les sapins et la roseraie. En bouche, un cœur battant de fruits noirs, une fraîcheur florale et une texture légère comme une plume. Encore un pas de géant pour ce vin qui révèle ici toute la finesse et la complexité de son terroir.

Vinous

97-99 / 100

byAntonio Gallonithe6/1/2021

The 2020 Pavie is very clearly one of the wines of the year. Rich, inky and wonderfully vibrant, it pulses with energy from start to finish. All the elements are well balanced. Soaring Cabernet Franc aromatics lead into a core of finely knit yet deep fruit in a wine that feels endless. Harvest for the reds started on September 17, paused briefly during some rain on the 25th and 26th, and then wrapped up by the end of the month. The blend is 50% Merlot, 34% Cabernet Franc and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, so more Cabernets than in the past, the result of a large replanting program that began in the early 2000s. A real head-turner. Magnificent!

Jeb DUNNUCK

96-98 / 100

byJeb Dunnuckthe5/28/2021

A wine that’s going to flirt with perfection, the 2020 Château Pavie is another magical wine from the genius of Gerard Perse and is 50% Merlot, 34% Cabernet Franc, and 16% Cabernet Sauvignon, brought up in 75% new French oak. The style here has unquestionably shifted from the blockbuster style of the 2000, 2005, 2009, and 2010 to a more elegant, refined style today that still brings plenty of fruit yet certainly stays more focused and precise. Is the new style better? I’m not sure, and there are certainly times I miss the opulence and decadence of the old style. Nevertheless, the wines today are magical Saint-Emilion that still show a rare mix of power and elegance. The 2020 is full-bodied and beautifully concentrated on the palate, offering a mouthful of cassis, black cherry, and mulberry fruits as well as a liqueur of rocks-like minerality, leafy herbs, and truffly earth. It doesn’t lack structure and has silky, polished tannins and flawless balance. Give bottles at least 7-8 years in the cellar and enjoy over the following 3+ decades.

Vinous

95-97 / 100

byNeal Martinthe5/27/2021

The 2020 Pavie was picked September 21–30 at 31hl/ha and matured in 75% new oak, the rest one year old. It continues to see greater emphasis on Cabernets – 34% Franc and 16% Sauvignon, the Merlot reduced to half the blend. This gradual rejigging of the blend is borne out on the nose, which features hints of damp loamy soil and bell pepper infusing vivid blackberry and wild strawberry fruit, becoming more and more citrusy with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with sautéed tannins that gently grip. Powerful, but the 14.82° alcohol is neatly disguised on the finish (at least in tasting measure) with fine delineation. Cohesive and focused. I would like to see a little more personality develop during élevage, but this remains an impressive Saint-Émilion and a Pavie with a long future ahead.

Decanter.com

97 / 100

byJane Ansonthe5/25/2021

The Cabernets dominate the blend on the aromatics, and you can really see they are moving the needle on the architecture and sculpting of this wine. A ton of concentration on the nose and upfront, but it is well balanced by damson and blackberry, and has a sense of energy, uplift and clear minerality. This shows the limestone terroir in a way that, with the best will in the world, the more concentrated style of Pavie just didn't do. There is density and glamour, with layers of black chocolate, graphite and liquorice. It is pretty disarming overall, and will age extremely well. 3.61pH. A yield of 31hl/ha, average age of vine 49 years. 75% new oak.

The Wine Cellar Insider

98-100 / 100

byJeff Levethe5/21/2021

Aphotic ink with purple accents in color, the intense sensation of crushed rocks and stones, flowers, licorice, truffle, wet forest, smoke, plums, black and blue fruits with oceanic smells captivate your interest. Full-bodied, concentrated, lush and palate-staining, with all its depth of flavor, the wine remains light on its feet. The fruit coats your palate with layers of opulent, sensuous, salty fruits that hold on to you for at least 60 seconds. Leave this in the cellar for 12-15 years and enjoy the thrills for the next 3 decades. The wine blends 50% Merlot, 34% Cabernet Franc and 16% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14.82% ABV pH 3.61. Harvesting took place September 21 - September 30. Yields were low at 31 hectoliters per hectare. 98-100

Wine Advocate

97-99 / 100

byLisa Perrotti-Brownthe5/20/2021

Composed of 50% Merlot, 34% Cabernet Franc and 16% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2020 Pavie weighs in with an alcohol of 14.82% and a pH of 3.61. It is aging in French oak barriques, 75% new. Opaque purple-black colored, notes of plum pudding, blueberry pie and dark chocolate-covered cherries charge out of the gate, followed closely by hints of eucalyptus, star anise, unsmoked cigars and fertile loam with a hint of cedar chest. The full-bodied palate is built like a brick house, offering very firm yet wonderfully ripe, velvety tannins and seamless freshness to support the densely laden, muscular black and blue fruits, finishing very long and with loads of mineral-laced layers. As hedonic as it is cerebral this year, it is a beautiful paradox.

Jamessuckling.com

99-100 / 100

byJames Sucklingthe5/17/2021

The aromas are already exceptional, showing crushed-stone, limestone and salt character to the dark fruit and bark. It’s full-bodied, yet agile. Floats on the palate, then kicks in with loads of ultra fine tannins. The intensity and verve of this wine promises true greatness.

Bernard Burtschy

98-99 / 100

byBernard Burtschythe5/10/2021

Falstaff

95-97 / 100

the5/10/2021

Im Duft Wachs, Schwarzkirsche, Waldheidelbeere. Gute Frische. Im Mund großzügig und weit gefasst, spielt mit Saftigkeit und Opulenz (und etwas Süße), was aber von einer stattlichen, aber nicht übers Ziel hinausschießenden Dosis reifen Gerbstoffs mittlerer Körnung kontrastiert wird. Kreidige Mineralik. Ein saftiger, feinnerviger, fruchtiger (leicht liköriger) Abklang.

My Bettane + Desseauve

98 / 100

by Bettane & Desseauvethe5/7/2021